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What are the limitations in ArcGIS Earth when using Shapefiles?

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01-25-2016 09:57 AM
DuncanHornby
by MVP Notable Contributor
MVP Notable Contributor
‎01-25-2016 09:57 AM

All,

I have downloaded the new ArcGIS Earth and using a Windows 7, core 2 machine with 4GB of Ram. One of the appealing things about this new application is that you can load Shapefiles directly without the need to convert them into some other format (e.g. KML).

I've just loaded a Shapefile with 8,657 polygons representing SSSI areas (protected areas) in the UK and ArcGIS Earth ground to a halt, to the point that it became completely unresponsive and unusable.

I was unable to find any advice on the on-line help for any limitations imposed by this application on Shapefiles. It would be a good idea to document these and provide best practise:

  • Does ArcGIS Earth make use of spatial indices, if so you should warn users to ensure these are created?
  • Does ArcGIS Earth have limitations on the number of vertices a polygon is composed of, what about multi-part?
  • How many features is too many?

Whilst it looks slick, the first dataset I loaded killed it and I was not even trying!

As a comparison I then converted that shapefile into a KMZ file and loaded that into Google Earth and whilst it struggled at full extent it displayed it fairly quickly and was quite usable. Loading the same KMZ file into ArcGIS Earth did not end well, brought my whole machine to a grinding halt...

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11 Replies
by Anonymous User
Not applicable
‎01-29-2016 04:52 PM

Jacqueline,

Thanks for trying it out.  If you have example data, I'd like to see them. I've seen Earth work with 30000 points coming in through network links. If any of the REST services are exposed, please let me know.  candrews (a) esri dotcom.

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JacquelinePursell
by
Occasional Contributor
‎02-04-2016 02:48 PM

The ones I am testing are not exposed.  There are a few rather large map services (many layers) that I would like to get KML network links for but unfortunately my ArcServer spins forever and never lets me make one.  The one I have for recycling centers for the whole state works great but that is one layer only in the map service, the labeling does come out horrid though.

Another I tried with a KML network link is the land ownership layer for NV as the only layer in a map service.  It gives me a warning icon next to the check box but won't tell me what the error is nor display anything.  If I zoom to it, it does zoom correctly to NV so it is getting something from the service.  I tried my NAIP 2013 and a DEM 10M as well (separate services as KML network links).  I shall also note here that in Google Earth the same thing occurred on all these.

On REST services I can add those all day but it only gives me what is already turned on and I can't see any of the layers to manage them individually.

not sure also if there is a searching ability on these things I am adding, I haven't seen a way to do so yet, but I've only opened it a few times.

Also the BIGGEST issue is the historical imagery...  where is it?  This is the main reason that people in my department use Google Earth.